Saturday, February 13, 2016

One of the most influential leaders in the Mafia in Montreal was
hoping to soon live the life of a simple retired gardener when he is
released from a federal penitentiary but has been ordered instead to
reside at a halfway house for the next three years.
Francesco Arcadi, 62, received one of the lengthiest sentences in
Project Colisée, the lengthy RCMP-led investigation that produced the
arrests, in 2006, of six men who formed a committee that ran the Rizzuto
organization after Vito Rizzuto was arrested, in 2003, and was
eventually extradited to the U.S. on a charge he took part in the
murders of three mobsters in Brooklyn in 1981.
The committee included Rizzuto’s father Nicolo and his brother-in-law
Paolo Renda (Vito Rizzuto died of natural causes in 2013, Renda
disappeared in 2010 and Nicolo Rizzuto was killed later the same year).
The Colisée investigation revealed that Arcadi operated as a street
boss, handling matters that involved drug trafficking, cocaine smuggling
and shipping marijuana to the U.S. When he pleaded guilty, in 2008, to
conspiracy to import and export drugs, committing a crime for the profit
of a criminal organization and possession of the proceeds of crime, he
was left with an 11-year prison term. Arcadi was never granted parole
and therefore will automatically qualify for a release when he reaches
the two-thirds mark of his sentence.
The Parole Board of Canada is limited to imposing conditions on the
release if they deem them necessary. In a decision made on Friday, the
parole board ordered that Arcadi reside at a halfway house until his
sentence expires in 2019. It is one of the toughest conditions the
parole board can impose on an inmate in this situation. He is also not
allowed to meet or communicate with people involved in criminal
activities.
According to a written summary of the decision made on Friday, life behind bars has changed little for Arcadi.
“You were closed off and followed the law of Omerta (the Mafia’s code
of silence) without opening up about your past or current life (and)
while never showing concrete action or any desire to change your
criminal way of life,” the author of the summary wrote. The document
also notes that Arcadi appeared to enjoy the same influence among his
peers while behind bars as he did when he ran the Rizzuto organization
from a café in St-Léonard.
Arcadi told the parole board he wanted to retire to a simple life
where he would “manage a garden, raise animals and spend the rest of
your time with your family.” But the parole determined some form of
control has to be maintained on Arcadi for the rest of his sentence. The
decision makes reference to how two other men described only as
“accomplices” were recently released and that the police allege this has
“already had important repercussions in the criminal milieu and that a
notable instability has been observed.” It is an apparent reference to
two other men — Francesco Del Balso and Lorenzo Giordano — who formed
the committee with Arcadi. Giordano was released in December and Del
Balso received a decision on his upcoming statutory release on Monday.